1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to steelmaking and particularly to steelmaking by means of a basic oxygen furnace (BOF), ad more particularly to a method for weighing, by fluid pressure in an hydrostatic fluid bearing, the BOF converter for determining process information.
2. Description of the Prior Art:
The concept of weighing a BOF converter to determine process information during a blowing cycle is not novel. Accurate in-process weight variations, measured by clusters of electronic compression load cells, called sometimes "weighing transducers" located in the bearing pedestals of a small BOF converter in British Steel Corporation plant in Llanwern, Wales, is described in an article in Journal of Metals, July 1974.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,328 to J. W. Martt describes a fluid bearing that is used to support a tiltable metallurgical vessel such as a BOF converter. Such fluid bearing includes "bearing pads" which are pressurized by hydraulic fluid. The shafts of the BOF converter are raised on a pressurized film of oil and the fluid bearing structure compensates for sag along the axis of the BOF trunnion shafts due to the weight of the vessel itself and its load. The fluid bearing structure also compensates for effects of sag during repeatedly changing load and tilting conditions.